Teen Girl Has Wisdom Tooth Growing Into Eye Socket

Story ByJohn FengSub EditorJoseph GolderAgencyAsia Wire Report

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

These shocking images show a rogue wisdom tooth growing into a teenage girl’s eye socket in a bizarre mutation that medics say could have blinded the youngster.

The unnamed 18-year-old from Changhua County in West Taiwan was first admitted to hospital after suffering from gum swelling and tasting pus in her mouth in September 2017.

Changhua Christian Hospital oral and maxillofacial surgeon Doctor Su Chun-yang ran tests on the schoolgirl and was shocked to find the impacted wisdom tooth having developed dangerously close to her left eye.

Pictures Credit: AsiaWire

“CT scans confirmed it to be a wisdom tooth, which had grown by her nose, right under her left eye,” Su said.

He added: “Besides being in a unique location, it also proved difficult to remove due to a large sac growing around it.”

Doctor Su said the sac and tooth were pressed against her eye socket, which could have resulted in a loss of vision.

Unable to immediately remove the growth due to the high risk of surgery and because of the girl’s urgent need to attend her final years of secondary school, Doctor Su decided to operate in two stages.

In October 2017, the medic cut into the sac and performed what is known as ‘marsupialisation’, where the cyst is sliced open and remains that way so the liquid inside can drain freely.

This allowed the girl to continue to attend school, while the draining sac relieves the pressure on her eye and also gradually moves the wisdom tooth downwards.

The second and final phase of her surgery took place on 2nd March, when Doctor Su removed the tooth using an ultrasonic bone scalpel.

The surgeon said teenage was hospitalised for only one day and was discharged in stable condition.